An overview of presentations at IAB Engage 2012, a digital marketing event attracting tech firms (Twitter, Google and Microsoft), media owners (the Guardian and ITV), clients (Tesco and easyJet) and agencies (AKQA and Ogilvy). Key things include: how digital has reshaped both the way marketers develop communications and the way companies themselves are structured, how nations such as the UK are already digital – not necessarily to the detriment of traditional media, and how agencies, clients and media owners alike should bear in mind that consumer needs have not changed – even though their media preferences are shifting.

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Four tech trends - and what they mean for marketers

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Scott Seaborn, Warc Trends, July 2012

With technology changing at a rapid rate, this article highlights four resulting key trends that are expected to play out across the next five years, and their implications for brand strategy and communications programmes. View Summary

With technology changing at a rapid rate, this article highlights four resulting key trends that are expected to play out across the next five years, and their implications for brand strategy and communications programmes. Hyper-connected devices could help drive brand love; hyper-connected web and mobile applications will require better filters for consumers, and in turn brands will need to be more relevant. Mobile phones will become a hub for all digital life and an increasingly mobile-directed experience will mean the emphasis will shift from 'push' to 'pull' marketing.

A report from Social Media: Beyond the Hype, a conference organised by Warc. The report concentrates on insights from clients presenting at the event, including Philips, Virgin Atlantic, Europcar and Jimmy Choo. View Summary

A report from Social Media: Beyond the Hype, a conference organised by Warc. The report concentrates on insights from clients presenting at the event, including Philips, Virgin Atlantic, Europcar and Jimmy Choo. Common themes emerge across the presentations, including: Clients are adopting a variety of strategies in optimising their social media marketing. Pre-planning, using games and humour, and targeting certain times of day to post are common themes; social channels are generally being used for clients for customer service, promoting discounts and offers, and for amplifying the message of campaigns launched in other media; social media-only campaigns are rare, but Jimmy Choo scored a notable success with one recently.

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Starcom Mediavest, 1000heads, LBi and the IAB – Agency views from Social Media: Beyond the Hype

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Joseph Clift, Event Reports, Warc Social Media, October 2011

A report from Social Media: Beyond the Hype, a conference organised by Warc. The report concentrates on insights from agencies and trade bodies presenting at the event, including Starcom Mediavest, 1000heads, LBi and the IAB. View Summary

A report from Social Media: Beyond the Hype, a conference organised by Warc. The report concentrates on insights from agencies and trade bodies presenting at the event, including Starcom Mediavest, 1000heads, LBi and the IAB. Common themes emerge across the presentations, including: agencies have a crucial role in cutting through the social media hype, whether it be by developing frameworks for measuring effectiveness, advising on how brands should engage with social media followers, or by creating attractive content that is likely to be shared; social media analytics have a crucial role to play, and provide rich insights if used correctly; best practices vary from network to network: for example, linking with live events works well on Twitter, while exclusivity is effective on LinkedIn.

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Status Update: The six decisions shaping the future of online social networking

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Alex Steer, The Futures Company, August, 2011

In 2001, internet penetration ran at 10% or less, even in advanced markets, and online social networks barely existed. View Summary

In 2001, internet penetration ran at 10% or less, even in advanced markets, and online social networks barely existed. In 2011, they are the most widely-used online services, with membership of the largest networks reaching well into the hundreds of millions. For businesses, brands, and marketers, this can feel like unstable ground. How is it possible to know which networks will be around and thriving in a couple of years' time, let alone 10? What's the best way to design services or communications in an unpredictable environment? To help think about social online behavior, this report identifies six points of tension based on the choices people make when they engage online, and the conflicts they experience that will shape the future of social networks: scale, privacy, specificity, pervasiveness, utility and worldview.

This article from Mindshare provides an overview of Google+, Google's new social networking platform. View Summary

This article from Mindshare provides an overview of Google+, Google's new social networking platform. Mindshare analyses the background to the development of the service, as well as its key features, such as Circles (manageable groups of different contacts from elsewhere in the network). Mindshare also looks forward to the likely impact of Google+.

7

Electronic Communications Networks (Emerging Industry Overview)

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Gale Emerging Industry Overviews, 2011

This paper provides an overview of the electronic communications networks industry, primarily in the United States. View Summary

This paper provides an overview of the electronic communications networks industry, primarily in the United States. The paper gives a snapshot summary of the emerging industry in the US, with additional sections on its development, organisation and structure, current conditions and leading companies. It concludes with a brief section about the industry in other countries ('America and the world') as well as a list of further information sources and reading.

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Winner takes all in the networked economy

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Kieran Levis, Market Leader, Quarter 1, 2010, pp. 22-25

Ferocious competition is the norm in most of the networked economy, says Kieran Levis, so how come it manages to throw up giants like Google and Microsoft that dominate? What is the secret of their success? eBay achieved its current status through positive feedback loops and networks. View Summary

Ferocious competition is the norm in most of the networked economy, says Kieran Levis, so how come it manages to throw up giants like Google and Microsoft that dominate? What is the secret of their success? eBay achieved its current status through positive feedback loops and networks. Google attracted a huge public following, and then found a form of advertising it could live with. Being first in the field helps, but improving on what has gone before is also very compelling. And having a strong hand is essential for longevity.

9

Nothing but net?

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Joe Mandese, Admap, February 2008, Issue 491, pp. 7-7

While internet advertising continues to grow, its value (in CPM) is decreasing, as the supply of impressions grows faster than the number of internet sites and revenues. View Summary

While internet advertising continues to grow, its value (in CPM) is decreasing, as the supply of impressions grows faster than the number of internet sites and revenues. This is likely to damage traditional media, whose costs are less flexible, and especially high-end television, magazines and newspapers. One Wall Street analyst thinks that online ad CPMs will rise again in 2008 because of 'tighter offline inventory'; that is, the supply of traditional media inventory is already contracting, driving spending to online at better rates. Search and online 'advertising networks' are growing especially fast, and the cost of search advertising has not been rising as fast as demand. The networks are attractive because they deliver users identified by interest and behaviour, leading to more efficient targeting, which will raise the popularity and the CPMs of such sites, and when that happens, there could well be some reverse migration back to traditional media.

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‘TV advertising is dead.’ Really?

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Olivia Johnson, Admap, July/August 2007, Issue 485, pp. 26-29

Olivia Johnson, planning director at Hooper Galton, debags three popular myths of TV: no one watches it any more; it is too expensive; and TV advertising doesn't work like it used to. View Summary

Olivia Johnson, planning director at Hooper Galton, debags three popular myths of TV: no one watches it any more; it is too expensive; and TV advertising doesn't work like it used to. She then explains why TV advertising continues to be such a vital part of the marketing armoury.

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Where is TV, and TV advertising, headed?

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Roderick White, Admap, July/August 2007, Issue 485, pp. 20-21

In this introduction to Admap's special feature on television, Roderick White reviews the current state of the medium, and finds that it remains remarkably robust despite predictions of its demise. View Summary

In this introduction to Admap's special feature on television, Roderick White reviews the current state of the medium, and finds that it remains remarkably robust despite predictions of its demise. He discusses cost pressures, changing production values, consumer expectations and the role of interactivity and iPTV.

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The future of TV

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Tess Alps, Admap, July/August 2007, Issue 485, pp. 22-25

Tess Alps, chief executive of Thinkbox (the central marketing body for commercial TV in the UK), unravels the reasons why despite 2006 being a great year for UK television, the headlines were relentlessly apocalyptic. View Summary

Tess Alps, chief executive of Thinkbox (the central marketing body for commercial TV in the UK), unravels the reasons why despite 2006 being a great year for UK television, the headlines were relentlessly apocalyptic. She looks at the impact of the internet, broadband popularity, and PVR (personal video recorders), and concludes that TV's new portability, interactivity, controllability and enhanced creativity will extend its power and influence even further.

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Consumers’ changing relationship with new technologies

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Nigel Sheldon, Admap, April 2007, Issue 482, pp. 22-24

Nigel Sheldon, director of Digital at Starcom Digital, discusses how the internet user is evolving. First the web was used primarily for communication and information gathering, deeper involvement and new services came with broadband, and now participation and personalisation is the name of the game. View Summary

Nigel Sheldon, director of Digital at Starcom Digital, discusses how the internet user is evolving. First the web was used primarily for communication and information gathering, deeper involvement and new services came with broadband, and now participation and personalisation is the name of the game. He argues that consumer behaviour is becoming more complex and the channels used more disparate. This creates new problems (and opportunities) for brand owners - not least how to measure what is going on.

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Web 2.0 attracts brands looking for customer interaction

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Barry Lee, Admap, April 2007, Issue 482, pp. 30-33

Barry Lee, board account director at ZED, argues that Web 2.0, with its social network sites, like MySpace, and user generated content, like YouTube, is fundamentally different from the information distribution role of the mainstream web (Web 1.0). View Summary

Barry Lee, board account director at ZED, argues that Web 2.0, with its social network sites, like MySpace, and user generated content, like YouTube, is fundamentally different from the information distribution role of the mainstream web (Web 1.0). Now, it is the users who are in charge. He describes the appeal of Web 2.0 to the users, the media owners and how it can help brands.

15

Convergence really means the success of broadband

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James Myring, Admap, March 2007, Issue 481, pp. 54-56

James Myring, head of the Internet and Telecoms team at Continental Research, reviews digital convergence in the UK. View Summary

James Myring, head of the Internet and Telecoms team at Continental Research, reviews digital convergence in the UK. He predicts that broadband-based technologies will win the day; and sees inherent weaknesses in 3G based TV/telephony, and internet access via mobile phones and digital TV. He sees potential for VoIP, but convergence and service-bundling really will come into its own with broadband - though converting consumers will not be an easy ride.

16

The new buzz of ‘open innovation networks’

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Laurence Knight, Admap, March 2007, Issue 481, pp. 42-44

Lawrence Knight, principal and founder of fletcher-knight - discusses the role of 'open networks' on the web for generating new ideas and new ways of doing things. View Summary

Lawrence Knight, principal and founder of fletcher-knight - discusses the role of 'open networks' on the web for generating new ideas and new ways of doing things. He argues that the benefits are already feeding through on the R&D and sourcing side of the business (especially in areas such as software development), but there are a number of problems when trying to collaborate with the consumer. He proposes some ways to solve these problems and four simple rules to help move open networks upstream into consumer insight generation.

17

How to win friends and influence people

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Philip Beeching, Market Leader, Issue 34, Autumn 2006, pp. 52-54

This paper discusses the rapidly growing phenomenon of `social networks', and describes how (and why) they are being driven by young people on the internet. View Summary

This paper discusses the rapidly growing phenomenon of `social networks', and describes how (and why) they are being driven by young people on the internet. The media are muscling in, with Murdoch's purchase of MySpace, and companies (e.g. Burger King) sponsoring we pages. But nobody knows how networks will develop, and advertisers who use them are likely to lose control.

18

Trends and developments beyond advertising

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Martin Thomas, Admap, April 2005, Issue 460, pp. 74-76

With the recent reissue of Lester Wunderman's 'Being Direct', Martin Thomas, a partner at Nylon, reflects on the insights and predictions of 40 years ago. View Summary

With the recent reissue of Lester Wunderman's 'Being Direct', Martin Thomas, a partner at Nylon, reflects on the insights and predictions of 40 years ago. He reveals that Wunderman's watchwords of 'personalisation' and 'participation' are continuing to shape marketing trends - via broadband up-take, CRM's development, interactive media and the mobile consumer.

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Bringing Ad Testing Internet Research to the Masses: Understanding the Power and Implication of Broadband

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Adam Froman and Stephen Popiel, Canadian Advertising Research Foundation, September 2004

Internet research has become increasingly prominent as technology has advanced, but many clients remain concerned about issues such as the reliability of the results it secures, and whether or not online research will yield the same results as more traditional methods. View Summary

Internet research has become increasingly prominent as technology has advanced, but many clients remain concerned about issues such as the reliability of the results it secures, and whether or not online research will yield the same results as more traditional methods. As well as understanding these concerns, market researchers must also grasp the impact broadband may have on their work. This paper assesses these trends, and looks at the possible implications of the growth of broadband on the industry.

20

Booby trap

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Joe Mandese, Admap, April 2004, Issue 449, pp. 10-10

Joe Mandese, in his regular review of U.S. ad practice, discusses how TV-centricity (persistent obsession with the TV medium) is guiding the thinking about planning other media – especially broadband ... View Summary

Joe Mandese, in his regular review of U.S. ad practice, discusses how TV-centricity (persistent obsession with the TV medium) is guiding the thinking about planning other media – especially broadband internet.

21

Driving demand for broadband

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Francesca Brosan, Admap, November 2003, Issue 444, pp. 38-40

Francesca Brosan, Omobono, describes how the East of England Development Agency persuaded telecoms companies to provide broadband access to the communities it served. View Summary

Francesca Brosan, Omobono, describes how the East of England Development Agency persuaded telecoms companies to provide broadband access to the communities it served. This involved an imaginative integrated communications plan and the creation of a ‘Demand Broadband Pressure Group’ to generate excitement, newsworthiness, and tie all the elements together.

22

The benefits of broadband

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Douglas West, Market Leader, Issue 22, Autumn 2003, pp. 64-65

Describes the accelerating spread of broadband and the advantages it will bring to consumers and businesses. View Summary

Describes the accelerating spread of broadband and the advantages it will bring to consumers and businesses. A summary of 'Making sense of broadband', McKinsey Quarterly, 2003 (2).

23

Streaming advertising

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Ian Johnson, Admap, March 2003, Issue 437, pp. 37-39

Ian Johnson asks 'Can streamed ads revitalise online campaigns?'. His article considers the current state of advertising streaming, the benefit to advertisers, the reaction of consumers and the challenges that lie ahead. View Summary

Ian Johnson asks 'Can streamed ads revitalise online campaigns?'. His article considers the current state of advertising streaming, the benefit to advertisers, the reaction of consumers and the challenges that lie ahead. He believes the current downside of online streamed ads is that they realy need broadband but, as broadband take-up increases, he forsees streamed ads doing the same.

24

Broadband: the Advertising Opportunity

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Jeremy Swinfen-Green, Admap, May 2002, Issue 428, pp. 43-46

This article discusses the advantages of broadband internet access over narrowband. The author identifies several main benefits for advertisers including: - (1) increased speed of data download which offers advertisers larger or more complex ad formats. View Summary

This article discusses the advantages of broadband internet access over narrowband. The author identifies several main benefits for advertisers including: - (1) increased speed of data download which offers advertisers larger or more complex ad formats. (2) An 'always on' environment which offers useful changes in user behaviour including 'snacking' (visiting the internet more often but for shorter periods), 'push' advertising which delivers customised advertising during computer downtime and allows consumers to access the internet and make telephone calls simultaneously. (3) Targeting to exact households which offer similar benefits to direct mail and door drops. The author explains that almost all ad formats currently used within narrowband are available to broadband but warns that the best ways to use audio and video ads are open to debate and experiment.

25

Media World: Broadband? As if

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Peter Fiddick, Admap, February 2002, Issue 425

The media scene is looking murky and everyone admits it. That is why a whole clutch of big media cheeses trekked to Arizona because the call came from Wall Street heavies Salomon Smith Barney. View Summary

The media scene is looking murky and everyone admits it. That is why a whole clutch of big media cheeses trekked to Arizona because the call came from Wall Street heavies Salomon Smith Barney. Patricia Hewitt, the UK government's trade and industry secretary was not there. Maybe she had sniffed the chill wind from the west and opted out or maybe she was not invited. She chose to head east to South Korea to 'look at the Korean model for broadband'. South Korea's broadband penetration is the envy of the developed world.